android@texas.net (Andy Combs)
The Sailor Moon Expanded Team presents:
A tale of the Sailor Moon Expanded universe.
Sailor Moon Dark War
by Andy Combs
Warning: As usual with my fic, there are adult themes. This is not a
lemon, however. There's no actual nudity, no actual sex scenes, but
still... If adult themes offend you, please don't read...
Also note that despite the title, this is not darkfic. It is intended
to be fairly standard Sailor Moon fare, set firmly in the Sailor Moon
Expanded fanfiction universe. There will be frivolous humor mixed
with serious super-heroing. At times there will be sappy romance,
at others things will get deadly serious. In short, pretty much the
same mix you get from the original Japanese SM TV show.
Usagi sighed. Things rarely got any better than this.
It was the longest period of peace they had had since that fateful day
when Luna had found her. Six months had passed since the final battle
with Galaxia. A whole six months with no youmas. No Cardians. No
droids, diamons, lemures, or warped senshi popping out of the woodwork.
Six months in which she had been able to almost forget that she was
Sailor Moon. Heck, even the tabloids were starting to run "Whatever
happened to..." stories about the Senshi, it had been so long since they
had appeared regularly.
The only thing that would have made the last six months better would
have been if she hadn't had to spend it alone. Mamoru had been
rescued. He had never made it to America last year, instead having been
captured by Galaxia. But once back, he had insisted that he still had
to go. He needed training that he could only get there. And so he had
left once more after only a week with her.
On the bright side, this separation was nothing like the previous. That
time, she had written him regularly, but never gotten a response. She
had had no way of knowing that he was Galaxia's prisoner the whole
time. This time, however, his return letters had been frequent. And
elegant. Mamoru tended to write poetically about how he missed her.
Also, he called her at least once a week. They could never talk long,
overseas calls were expensive, and he was on a tight budget, but it was
enough. He was still there. He still loved her, and hadn't forgotten
her, like she had feared last time.
And best of all, he was coming back tomorrow for a full month of
vacation.
Usagi could hardly wait. She could almost feel him by her side
already. His scent, wafting through her nose. The light touch of his
lips on hers. The sensations as his hands gently caressed her...
Usagi blinked. Where did that thought come from? Great. Next thing
she knew, she would be dreaming him into her bed. That thought made her
blush furiously. She knew that she would sleep with him someday. Chibi
Usa was their daughter. There were certain things that had to happen
for Chibi Usa to be created. She blushed even more. The thought of
sleeping with him... the whole idea was at once enchanting, and
terrifying.
She sighed deeply. That was still a year or two off, though. She was
seventeen now. She raised her hand to look at the ring sitting on one
finger. An engagement ring. Before Mamoru left for America (the first
time) he had given her the ring and asked her to marry him when she
graduated from high school. Of course she had accepted. And before he
left the second time he had repeated his promise to marry her.
Usagi knew that if she wanted, she could probably take him to bed before
they married. He would never ask himself. He was too much the
gentleman. But she doubted he would say no if she was the one to ask.
But she also knew she would never ask. That would cheapen their
eventual marriage. So for now she would make herself be content with
kissing him. And her fantasies of what it would someday be like when
they were married.
She sighed and looked out over the park. The sun was starting to dip
low in the western sky. It was getting late. She probably should think
about getting home.
"Excuse me" piped a high voice from behind her. "But are you Tsukino
Usagi?"
She turned her head to look over her shoulder. There, just behind the
park bench, stood a figure. It was a man. Perfectly proportioned, but
only a foot and a half tall. He was dressed in a green suit, with a
green tophat of the same style Mamoru wore as Tuxedo Mask. Curly yellow
hair peeked out from under the hat, and he had a full beard of the same
color.
Usagi wasn't normally very knowledgeable about Western mythological
figures, but after the pegasus had appeared, Ami had given the rest of
them a crash course in such things. And so she could identify the
figure standing there as a leprechaun.
Usagi finally nodded in response to his question.
"Splendid! Just the person I was looking for. You see, I have very
important information I must impart to you. You, and your friends."
"My... friends?"
The leprechaun grinned, and reached within his coat, pulling out a small
sphere. He lightly spun the sphere on one index finger. The sphere
blurred, then a quick series of images appeared. In rapid succession
the symbols for the Inner Senshi appeared. First the Moon, then the
symbols for Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter all appeared. Then the
leprechaun grabbed the sphere from the air and quickly replaced it in
his pocket.
"What??? How????" Usagi sputtered.
"All will be answered, in time. For now, though, would you please
gather your friends in your normal location? I will come by as soon as
I am able."
He turned to leave, but stopped. "Oh, and one other thing. Please have
your cats be elsewhere. If they are anywhere nearby, I'm afraid I will
not be able to visit you." He turned once more and took a couple of
steps away.
"Mr. Leprechaun?" He stopped. "Who...? What should I call you?"
"Me?" He spun on his heels to face Usagi, a wide grin on his face. "I
have many names. But for now, you can call me Macavity." He bowed
deeply to her, and then was gone. One moment he was there, the next he
had vanished. She looked around but there was no trace of him.
She sighed. "So much for the peaceful times."
Cue Moonlight Densetsu as the opening...
Presenting Sailor Moon Dark War
Episode One. Fleeting Peace.
The room was dark. Two of the walls were actually full length windows.
The glittering lights of Tokyo's nighttime skyline could be seen through
them. The room was quite large. The large shadowy shape of a desk
could be seen where the two windowed walls met.
Silhouetted against one of the windows could be seen a figure, staring
out across the city.
There was a soft rush as air was shoved aside as a new figure arrived by
teleportation. The arrival quickly knelt toward the original figure,
and bowed its head.
"I come as I have been called. How may I serve you?"
In a melodic, baritone voice, the figure before the window spoke.
"The reports show that everything is ready. This is correct?"
"Yes, Chairman."
The Chairman nodded. "Good. Very well. We've waited far too long as
it is. Initiate Phase 1 at once. You are in charge for now. On you
will hang the glory of success or the dishonor of failure."
"As you command." He rose to his feet and, after bowing once more to
the Chairman, teleported away.
The Chairman returned his attention to the Tokyo skyline. "After all
this time, it has finally begun."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
They were all gathered in the courtyard of Rei's shrine. This was not
quite the homecoming Mamoru had been expecting. Usagi had met him at
the airport as expected, but instead of being excited at seeing him, she
was instead preoccupied with worry over the encounter the previous day.
Usagi had set up a meeting at the shrine for shortly after his arrival
time, and they had taken a cab straight here from the airport. In fact
his bags still sat at the side of the courtyard. He hadn't brought all
that much back as he was only supposed to be here for a month. If they
had a new threat arising, on the other hand, he might have to rethink
that.
While on the way here Usagi had given him a brief rundown on what had
happened the previous day. There wasn't that much to tell. If he
hadn't fought demons of various types for the last several years, and
even fought alongside a pegasus for a period of time, he might have been
inclined to dismiss what she said. But whatever other faults she had,
Usagi was no liar. If she said she saw a leprechaun, she saw a
leprechaun.
Mamoru listened with half an ear as Usagi told the other four about the
encounter yesterday. Something seemed amiss. Then he realized that it
was the absence of the Cats. As Macavity had requested, Usagi had
insisted that they stay at home. Luna had apparently put up a fuss, but
Usagi hadn't given in. But it was still unusual to see the five girls
chatting spiritedly with the Cats nowhere around.
"Macavity..." Ami was musing, as if trying to pull something out of her
memory. She frowned. "I know I've heard that name before."
Makoto gave her a strange look, then rolled her eyes, before turning to
the other girls. "So when's he supposed to show up?"
Usagi shook her head. "He didn't say. He just asked us to meet in our
usual place. I'm pretty sure that meant here."
Rei said "You sure he didn't mean the arcade? You sure spend enough
time there..."
"Rei-chan, you are so mean!" Usagi stuck her tongue out at Rei and yet
another tongue war was on.
Mamoru just shook his head in resignation. Some things never changed.
A voice spoke from almost at Mamoru's ear. "And these are the ones who
have saved the world so many times. Almost unbelievable." Mamoru
turned and looked at the figure on his shoulder. He was just as Usagi
had described him.
"Macavity, I presume."
Macavity dipped his head lightly. "That name serves as well as any."
By now the girls had noticed the newcomer. All but Usagi were staring
wide-eyed at him.
Macavity hopped to the ground from Mamoru's shoulder. Mamoru frowned
momentarily. He hadn't even felt Macavity standing there. Probably
some sort of strange explanation like the leprechaun being more magical
than physical, or some such. The Pegasus had turned out to not have any
physical form, after all.
Macavity turned to each of the girls in turn, bowing as he addressed
each.
"Lady Mercury. Mistress of the Mind."
"Lady Venus. Goddess of the Heart."
"Lady Mars. Guardian of the Soul."
"Lady Jupiter. The Righteous Strength."
"Lady Moon. The Peacemaker."
and he finished with Mamoru himself...
"And finally an unexpected surprise. Lord Earth. The Emerald thread
that binds them all."
He took a few steps backward so that he could see them all at once.
"And then there's me. I have so many titles I couldn't begin to list
them. Most would be meaningless to you anyway. But as I said, for now
feel free to call me Macavity. That will suffice." He bowed deeply.
Usagi had a faraway look. "Those titles you called us..."
Macavity grinned, and continued on. "Needless to say, I'm well aware of
who you people are, so please don't waste my time denying it. You are
the ones called the Sailor Senshi. You have saved this world a number
of times already. I'm afraid the time has come to ask you to do so once
more."
"I knew it." Usagi said.
Macavity inclined his head towards her. "I'm sorry. I can see how much
you are enjoying this time of peace, but there's not really any choice.
The Dark Ones have come. They walk among you already. And you are the
only ones with the strength to stand in opposition to them."
"The Dark Ones?" asked Ami.
Macavity nodded. "Like me, they have many names. Most would be
meaningless in this age. 'Dark Ones' fits them as well as any other
label might."
Makoto struck a fist into the opposing palm a couple of times. "So
another enemy lines up to be knocked down by the Senshi."
Macavity shook his head. "Beware overconfidence. The Dark Ones are
unlike any of the other enemies you have overcome. For one thing the
Dark Ones are old. *Very* old. And they have the cunning and
experience that comes with such age.
"But perhaps more importantly, they hate. They hate humanity. Your
previous enemies may have placed little value on human life, but the
Dark Ones will actively seek to end such life. In the end it will be
them or you. There can be no compromise with them."
Usagi shuddered.
Rei gave Macavity a hard look. "And how do you fit into all this?"
"Mua? Would you believe I'm also a staunch defender of truth, justice,
and the senshi way?"
"No" Rei said.
"You would be right. I'm not. I'm not really free to say what my place
in the coming tapestry of events is. For now, let's just say that I
have no more wish for the Dark Ones to succeed than you do. Beyond
that..."
A beeping sound was heard. Macavity frowned and reached into his suit,
pulling out a large pocket watch, from which the beeping appeared to be
coming. A quick tap on the single button on top of the watch caused the
beeping to cease. Macavity then swung open the faceplate of the watch,
and examined the insides. He nodded a couple of times at what he saw
before snapping the watch shut. None of the others had been able to see
inside the watch. The watch quickly vanished back within Macavity's
clothes.
"The Dark Ones are on the move. To a limited extent I am able to track
the gates by which they enter and leave this world. Until now they have
only been opening small gates. They have just opened a big one."
"Where?" asked Mamoru?
"In a park a couple of miles from here." He gave the name of the park.
The girls nodded. "Let's go!" said Minako.
"Venus Star Power..."
"Mercury Star Power..."
"Mars Star Power..."
"Jupiter Star Power..."
"Moon Eternal Power..."
"MAKE UP!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The man watched as the chaos unfolded below him. In the middle of the
park below him, a jagged hole seemed to hang in the air. Through this
hole flowed a steady stream of misshapen beings. They were humanoid,
but there the resemblance ended. These beings were all knobby joints
and strangely angled limbs. All carried weapons, but they were as
mismatched as the beings themselves. Knobby clubs and a few short
spears.
The man sighed. Of all the beings he had to work with, it had to be
goblins. He had always hated the filthy creatures. But he couldn't
deny they were perfect for the current mission. Perfect, because they
were totally expendable. Goblins bred at an insane rate, and generally
kept their populations down by fighting among themselves. Bringing a
few of them to this world to die would be no loss.
The goblins that poured from the hole in the middle of the air quickly
spread out, seeking things to destroy. That was what they did best,
after all. Most of the humans in the park had managed to flee when the
invasion began. A few hadn't been so lucky, and had been clubbed into
submission. He could see several lying about. From this distance he
couldn't see if they were still alive, but he suspected they mostly
were. Goblins liked to kill slowly and painfully. For now, they were
just securing victims. The killing would come later.
Now it was just a matter of waiting until the defenders of this world
showed up. He didn't have to wait long.
"Hey, Fang-face! Why don't you pick on someone who can fight back!"
came a new voice.
The goblins all turned toward the voice. The man shook his head at the
goblins' stupidity if that was all it took for them to be distracted.
"Disturbing a quiet day at the park is unforgivable! I'm the warrior of
love and justice, Sailor Moon! In the name of the Moon, I will punish
you!"
Six figures stood at the entrance to the park. The man nodded. Those
would be the so-called Inner Senshi and Tuxedo Mask. Since they had
arrived they had examined all reports of this world's defenders. This
was the most visible team. A smaller team of Sailor Senshi called the
Outer Senshi was also reported to exist, as well as several independent
heroes.
The goblins roared in defiance and as a group turned to attack the
Senshi. The Senshi waded into the goblins and the fight was on. The
man rolled his eyes as it quickly became apparent how one-sided the
fight was. The Senshi were not even using their magical attacks. They
were going after the goblins hand to hand, and destroying them easily.
He sighed. What good was this mission if he couldn't even force the
Senshi to use their attacks?
And then he spotted something that changed the situation totally. There
was a seventh person fighting the goblins. This figure wasn't actually
attacking them, but was no less effective. He would appear right in
front of one goblin, taunting the goblin to attack. The goblin would do
so without hesitation, at which point the figure would vanish, and the
goblin would crash into one of his fellow, generally with disastrous
consequences. This happened a number of times in rapid succession,
proving that the figure was carefully calculating his appearances to
cause such chaos.
But it wasn't the way that the figure was attacking that was the
problem, but the figure's identity. What in the hells was one of the
Wee Folk doing here? That one of the Wee Folk was on this world,
actively helping the Senshi, changed the situation dramatically. The
man smiled evilly. This mission wasn't a wash after all. The whole
situation had just gotten a whole lot more interesting.
Enough for now. The goblins were not going to be giving him any more
information on the Senshi. His eyes glowed momentarily, and the hole in
the air suddenly winked out of existence stopping the flow of
reinforcements. They had been worthless anyway. The Senshi were
destroying the goblins faster than they could come through. The man
spared no sympathy for the ones he was stranding in this world. They
were only goblins, after all. Not worth his concern.
His mind was already on the wording of the report he would give to the
Chairman. This was certainly an unexpected turn of events.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Senshi finished off the rest of the creatures. Even given the sheer
numbers of the enemy, it had been one of the easiest fights they had had
in a long time. Even Sailor Moon had waded in physically once she saw
how easily the others were dealing with the creatures. The key
difference had been speed. The Senshi were so agile in comparison to
the creatures that none of them had even come close to hitting the
Senshi. And the Senshi were strong enough that a single punch or kick
from a Senshi was generally enough to take one of the creatures out of
the fight.
Fortunately it appeared no one had been killed, though there were many
bruises and a few broken limbs among those caught by the creatures.
As was typical for enemies, these creatures disintegrated into piles of
dust once defeated.
The Senshi regrouped a little ways off after the last of the creatures
was gone.
Sailor Moon was bubbly. "Well, that was certainly easy. If they are
all like that, we have nothing to fear from these Dark Ones."
Macavity appeared, sitting on a nearby tree limb. "I have warned you
against overconfidence. Those were the least of the Dark Ones you just
fought. Frankly I'm surprised they even bothered sending them. Surely
they would have realized how useless they would be."
Sailor Moon stuck out her tongue at Macavity. "Spoil sport. We know
they won't all be so easy, but let us enjoy our victory anyway."
Macavity grinned. "I like your spirit, girl. Very well." He stood up
on the branch. "Until next time, farewell." He vanished.
Mamoru just watched the space where he had been. "I'd love to know how
he does that."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two figures chatted in a darkened room. One, obviously a humanoid, had
a female voice. She was seated on a chair before a table. The other,
who's shape was hidden, could be recognized as Macavity by his voice.
The voice came from a deep shadow on the table.
The female spoke. "I'm sorry, Master, but I just don't like it. The
Senshi are our allies. I just can't agree with deceiving them like
this."
"I know, but it's necessary. For more reasons than I can begin to
describe, this is how it must be. We are playing a dangerous game here.
You know as well as I do what is at stake."
"Yes, but Master P..."
Macavity interrupted. "No! Don't say that name. For now, and the
foreseeable future I am Macavity." He stepped forward out of the
shadow, the familiar leprechaun. "I am Macavity. And Serenity help us
all if they find out otherwise."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The man knelt again in the high office as the Chairman read his report.
The Chairman was pacing as he read. *Not* a good sign.
Finally the Chairman spoke. His voice held his normal calm, despite the
seriousness of his word. "This is most disturbing news. If one of the
Wee Folk is helping these 'Sailor Senshi' then we must move cautiously
indeed. Who knows what other assistance they could call upon?"
The man nodded. "That is, indeed, the problem, sir."
The Chairman appeared to reach a decision. "Very well. I'm placing
Phase II on hold for now. We have been patient until now, we can be
patient a bit longer. We cannot afford mistakes. You are to continue
Phase I. We need to know everything about the local defenders before we
begin any real moves."
"Sir. About the quality of the forces available to me?"
"Yes. I can see from your report how the goblins fared. But I still do
not consider them totally useless for the coming projects. While the
Senshi outclass them, they cannot afford to ignore them, either. And
while they deal with the goblins, someone else can deal with them. And
the goblins are the most expendable troop we have. We have more than
enough to expend."
The man nodded. "What you say makes sense, sir."
"I will, however, authorize some of the better troops for you. But
realize that anything made available to you at this stage will, by
necessity, be expendable. Until we have reliable estimates of the
capabilities of the enemies, and of any help on which they could call,
placing essential units in opposition to them would be foolishness."
He paused, looking out over the city. "One last thing. No matter how
'expendable' the troops you are given to work with, you yourself are
anything but expendable. Remember that your mission is to gather
information. If you can eliminate one or more of the defenders, that is
fine, but don't risk yourself to achieve that. We have evidence that
these defenders have eliminated several powerful opponents. They are
not to be underestimated."
"Yes, sir."
"You may go. Luck be with you."
"And with you, sir." The man rose, then vanished.
"The Wee Folk, is it?" the Chairman mused to himself.
End Sailor Moon Dark War 1
--
Alexander (Andy the Android) Combs android@texas.net
Video Librarian, The Anime Club at the University of Texas
RAAC Assistant Moderator
Current Projects:
Sailor Moon Expanded: Fanfiction shared universe. For details see:
http://www.texas.net/~android/sme_main.html